Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 May 2017
Point-of-use/point-of-entry treatment can provide an affordable means for rural residents on private wells to remedy groundwater contamination. Cooperation among homeowners was hypothesized to be a means of further reducing treatment costs due to quantity discounts and avoidance of dealer mark-ups. Data obtained through a mail survey of water treatment firms was used to test this hypothesis. Individual and group purchase, installation and maintenance costs and manufacturer and dealer costs were compared using analysis of variance. Results indicate a cooperative treatment approach may provide benefits due to quantity discounts but little potential exists for savings via direct manufacturer purchase.
Senior authorship is not assigned.
The authors gratefully acknowledge the helpful comments of Donald Epp and Jill Findeis, and anonymous reviewers of the Journal. The article is published as Journal Series Article No. 8121 of the Pennsylvania Agricultural Experiment Station. The research was funded by the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development and the Pennsylvania Agricultural Experiment Station.